140 KESTREL. 



We again find it equally abundant in the wilder 

 parts and more mountainous districts Df England 

 and Scotland, delighting in those deep ravines or 

 gullies, clothed with natural brush and wood, 

 and having parts varied by some precipitous 

 rock, formed into shelves, whereon grow the 

 wild grasses, heath, or blaeberry,* or a drapery 

 of ivy or honeysuckle ; under the overhanging 

 brow of some of these a hole is scraped, and 

 the eggs are laid without any protection from 

 the rock or ground. This we conceive to be the 

 most favourite site, almost always selected where 

 many such retreats occur in the country; and we 

 know several glens, where, within a quarter of a 

 mile, there may, in April or May be found from 

 ten to twelve eyries, and in one situation, eight 

 or nine can be perceived at once. Mr Thompson 

 writes us, that in Ireland it is equally com- 

 mon, frequenting the inland and marine cliffs. 

 " Throughout the whole range of noble basaltic 

 precipices, in the north-east of Ireland I have 

 remarked its presence " 



In form, the Kestrel is interesting, by some 

 being thought sufficiently varied to form a sub- 

 genus. It is aberrant in many parts of struc- 

 ture and habits, and the similitude which runs 

 through a small group of five or six species, 

 would seem to warrant its sectional division; 

 * Vaccinium myrtillus. 



